Those skilled in the optical arts will readily appreciate that for enhanced light beam quality and enhanced accuracy in beam orientation, a mirror reflecting such a beam must be mounted so that the effects of vibratory disturbances on the mirror are minimized. The minimization of such vibratory effects is particularly critical in laser systems such as a pulsed chemical lasers.
In a pulsed chemical laser, laser light energy is generated by periodic chemical reactions in a resonator chamber having mirrors therein which repeatedly reflect a light energy beam for a resonant reinforcement thereof. The chemical reactions are to a certain extent, explosive in nature, occurring at periodic rates of typically from 50-100 cycles per second and producing light pulses at such frequencies. Each pulse of light energy (typically, of a duration of approximately 2.0 microseconds) is followed by a pressure pulse (from the explosion which produces that light pulse) of an amplitude of, for example, 5.0 atmospheres and a duration of, for example, 2.0 milliseconds. The pressure pulses when impinging on the mirrors and/or mounts therefor, produce significant dynamic responses in the mirrors and mounts at the resonant frequencies thereof. It will be appreciated that such dynamic responses, unless damped within a matter of a few milliseconds, will adversely affect the reflection of subsequent pulses of light energy, causing excessive output beam jitter and poor beam quality. Heretofore, the magnitude and frequency of the pressure pulses have made the effective damping thereof, difficult if not impossible to attain.